Cornish Nature

If you have enjoyed the photographs and information on this website you may be interested to know that my first book, Insects of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, will be published on the 6th July 2010  by award winning publishers Alison Hodge. The book will be one of the latest editions in the acclaimed Pocket Cornwall series and is aimed at the general observer who enjoys exploring the many diverse wildlife habitats of the county. It will enable the reader to identify some of the fascinating array of insects that they might encounter and covers all the resident Cornish species of butterflies, dragonflies & damselflies, plus a range of moths, grasshoppers & crickets, beetles, bumblebees, wasps, flies & bugs to complete the picture. 

In common with the rest of the country, the start of 2010 saw the heaviest snow fall to hit west Cornwall for nearly 25 years with overnight temperatures dipping below -7C.
For the human population, easily led by the media hype, coupled with the modern climate of risk aversion this meant that all the local schools were closed, roads were labeled as impassable and vast numbers of people settled down to an extended Christmas holiday.

For the animal world opting out was not an option, and although the conditions brought extreme hardship, it was business as usual in the harsh daily battle to find enough food to survive. No television or radio to panic them about how lethal the conditions were, just their instinct & senses of the true conditions around them.